Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, says government is open to private sector collaboration, which will lead to job creation through indistrialisation.
The NDC-led Government was ready to work towards the creation of an ideal business environment for industries to thrive and export to boom, she said.
“We are willing to assist them (private sector) as much as we can to enable them to create the needed jobs and even be able to export,” Madam Ofosu-Adjare said in an interview while on a familiarisation visit to some textile and garment factories in Tema on Tuesday.
Accompanied by Mr Sylvester Mensah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Exim Bank, she visited the Dignity DTRT garment factory and the Tex Styles factory.
The Minister commended Dignity DTRT for providing jobs to about 6000 Ghanaian youth where over 70 per cent of the workforce were women.
She spoke about the need to support the company to replicate its business model in other regions to create more jobs.
Madam Ofosu-Adjare assured workers of the Tex Styles Ghana Limited of government’s assistance to the company to make it a major exporter of textiles on the continent.
Mr Mensah observed that the garment industry was a sector that could generate ‘quick’ jobs and earn foreign exchange, hence the need for financial assistance to grow the sector.
“The whole idea is to encourage industries to export and to support them to export and importantly to generate employment,” he said.
Mr Kwodwo Agyenim-Boateng, the Managing Director of Tex Styles, said the company looked forward to a better future where government would help address challenges facing the textile industry.
These challenges, he said, included piracy and counterfeiting of Ghanaian textiles.
Mr Skip Richmond, the Founder and Co- CEO, DTRT Group, observed that as far as the garment industry was concerned, Ghana was competing against Asian countries such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh with decades of experience.
He, therefore, emphasised the need for financial resources to train more Ghanaians to take up jobs and perform efficiently as the company expands.
GNA